Neon Devils
by NeonPoets
Summary: A bad break up leaves Peridot to lurch herself into a decision she cannot unmake. Money and anonymous faces are enough to gamble; but with a life on the line and 48 hours on the clock, it's going to take more than unsubscribing to rectify somebody else's mistakes.
1. BLUE

Chapter 1; BLUE

PRESS PLAY watch?v=ozKWaCgQxeI

HELLO :)

YOU HAVE ENTERED NEON DEVILS

WELCOME PERIDOT

YOUR NEW USERNAME IS PERI_800, THIS USERNAME CANNOT BE CHANGED

CLICK 'AGREE' TO PLAY NEON DEVILS

WARNING: NEON DEVILS REFUSES TO TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY OF USER DISSATISFACTION. ALL USERS MUST BE OVER 18 YEARS TO PLAY

DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE?

The dark studio space is lit in city lights, the glow of her mobile screen illuminates the smooth features of her face. Peridot lowers it momentarily and thinks about Amethyst's encouragement, urging her to join the crazy fad online game a few days ago. She thinks about how they had also broken up less than five hours prior, the tear stains on her cheeks still fresh and the need to do something reckless bubbling over fit to burst. That's what people did when they got dumped, right? Reckless things?

Sucking her bottom lip into her mouth, Peridot turns her attention back to the illegal website and presses the screen without another thought.

YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO PLAY NEON DEVILS

YOU WILL BE ASSIGNED YOUR PARTNER IN TEN HOURS

HAPPY PLAYING :)

Peridot nearly jumps out of her skin when the screen goes blank, and a cartoon cat singing to Tom Jones 'what's new pussycat' popped up seconds later.

'What the fuck…?'

Peridot feels confused, was this some sort of waiting game? Maybe signing up had been a mistake, even if she has used a different email account. She heaves air into her lungs to exhale loudly and toss her phone to the end of her bed. She stares up to the loft ceiling, adored in fake glow stars. It had been the mission to get them up there, the studio space she owed was once a manufacturing room and the ceiling is over 2 ft above ground. A fond memory shimmers in Peridot's mind as she stares at those stars, so comforting.

 _She's on a ladder, borrowed on a special favour from Greg. Peridot wobbles on it and tries to catch the stars Amethyst throws up at her._

 _'You got it babe! Nearly 100 stars, man! I wish I had some of that interior determination of yours.'_

 _Huffing in the effort to stretch and stick on the plastic novelties that they'd bought in bags and bags, Peridot tries not to let herself look down at the height she's at to sneer down at her girlfriend. She hates climbing things._

 _'Well seeing as this is the only place within my budget, the stars are a necessity! I refuse to live in Area Creepy One!'_

Amethyst had laughed at her, and christened her home with Peridot's play on words. From where she lies, Peridot can see the mini mural that read Area Creepy 1 in electric magenta spray paint next to the kitchenette. Heartstrings tugged when she sees the signature puma paw under the bold font in neon blue.

Turning over to the right side of the bed, it vanishes from view. Peridot decides she'll have to paint over it… at some point. For now it can stay, just in case.

Peridot closes her eyes and chooses to concentrate on the sounds of Empire City. It's always loud, especially in her location where all the indie clubs roar, and the booming of the subway thundering over her head every 20 minutes. It's Friday, and Friday's always seem louder than usual. But Peridot decides this is okay, she doesn't want to think, doesn't want to dream. She doesn't want to sleep either.

Blinking her eyes open she sits up and looks all around her. The place is going to look pretty sparse when Amethyst comes to collect her things, all thrown around. Maybe that will be decidedly better, more room for Peridot's science projects and her piano which is squashed in the back of her space.

A part of Peridot knows she'll be lost without Amethyst. Pieces of her will vanish when Amethyst's belongings are removed.

Midnight tears prick up in her eyes, and Peridot has been expecting them. She lets them fall and crashes softly back onto the mattress, all of the sheets stripped away that smell like Amethyst.

Peridot simply listens to the downstairs club that drones a Halsey track.

She hates Halsey.


	2. Im Not The Girl

Chapter 2, I'm Not The Girl

PRESS PLAY watch?v=WF1I9e3gbD0

 _BANG BANG BANG_

Peridot bolts upright to the sound of the metal of her front door being rapped on, and with slight disorientation stumbles to stand, calling out.

'I'm coming, coming!'

She slides on her glasses from the nightstand and makes her way over to the entrance of her home. Tugging the door open, she realises it's unlocked.

Fuck sake.

To her surprise, before her stands Pearl and Garnet, Amethyst's long-term friends. They are holding lots of folded cardboard boxes, Starbucks coffee, and trying to smile through obvious discomfort. Peridot squints at them, taken aback.

'Good morning, Peridot!'

'Howdy.'

Peridot stares at them blankly and tries to figure out what time it is. She studies the boxes, terse expressions and her insides clench horribly. Fucking Amethyst. Peridot snatches the coffee that Pearl extends to her and moves to allow them entry.

'All her shit is either on the floor or purple and pink. Just hurry it up, I have shit to do.'

Pearl and Garnet share a concerned look, but they do not question Peridot's statement and enter the studio to begin collecting Amethyst's belongings. Peridot watches them from the doorway with a critical eye, and Pearl notices her staring. She looks nervous but tries to start a conversation all the same.

'So, Peridot? How are you doing?'

Peridot wants to sneer at her. Pearl is prim and proper in appearance, as is her personality. Peridot dislikes the way the question is asked in such a sensitive tone. Pearl is anything but sensitive.

'Why are you here so early in the morning?'

'Oh! We're sorry about that,' she doesn't sound sorry at all, 'but Amethyst requested us to do this as soon as possible, I haven't the faintest why.'

Pearl simpers a little and continues to pick up clothes from the floor, avoiding looking in Peridot's direction. Peridot feels her throat close up and the tears threaten to fall again. Did Amethyst not even wish to take a few days to lick her wounds and then come to collect her things personally? Did Amethyst really value their relationship so little?

Peridot walks a circle around the tense situation that almost feels like a home invasion. She can tell she's making Pearl uncomfortable, as every step she takes, Pearl takes two back with her blushing face turned away. Garnet glances up over her shades and suddenly stops to straighten up, smiling gently.

'How are you doing, Peridot?'

Peridot wants to glare at her, how does she think she's doing?! Peridot is a heartbroken mess.

She shrugs, 'I've been better.'

Garnet nods, but not with understanding. Peridot studies her a little, she's never been really able to read Garnet very well. She's an Amazonian of a woman; cool and aloof. Peridot knows Amethyst thinks highly of Garnet, and for a while when they first got together, Peridot was jealous of that.

'I'm sorry about all this, it being 6 am. Amethyst asked me to tell you she couldn't do this herself.'

Peridot huffs, unimpressed and it still feels like she's being strangled. There is a pregnant pause as the thundering of the subway rushes above them; Peridot's usual alarm clock.

'I'm not a fool, I can tell this is hurting me more than it is her.'

'That's not true, and you know that.'

'Oh yeah? Then why didn't she give me the damn decency to come and face me herself! She's not allowed to let me love her for three years and then tell me she wants to leave!'

Garnet sighs, something Peridot rarely hears her do. She slips off her shade, another rarity to expose her mismatched eyes. One blue, the other a reddish amber.

'If you knew Amethyst like I know you do, you know she acts in haste and moves quickly, despite her feelings. She deals with these things like-'

'-self sabotage. I know how Amethyst works.'

Garnet loses her smile, but her gaze is soft and sympathetic. Peridot shakes of her gaze and takes another sip of her latte, not sweet enough for her liking, and she heads to the kitchenette to find the sugar.

Pearl and Garnet seem to have finished up behind her, but when she turns her eye catches Pearl walking towards where the screen separates her bed from the rest of the spacey loft. She seems to be looking for something, and Peridot starts on her the second Pearls hand reaches for the bedside table.

'Hey! I've let you take Amethyst's stuff, mine is off limits!'

Pear jumps and tries to smile reassuringly.

'I'm doing just that! Amethyst wanted the necklace with her namesake gemstone,' Pearl points to the trinket that lies next to a Camp Pining Hearts mug and a green notebook. It's a beautiful amethyst stone hanging on a silver necklace, and Peridot moves faster across the room to make a grab for it, making Pearl flinch and step back.

'Not this. This is mine.'

Pearl loses her kindly looking expression and straightens up to her full height, towering above Peridot and takes ones step forward, wiry thin hand out-stretched.

'Now Peridot, please be reasonable. That necklace is very important to Amethyst, and I'm going to have to ask you to hand it over.'

Peridot snickers at her, the necklace tight in her grip. She can see how Garnet watches when warily, but Peridot doesn't want to fight Pearl. She just wants them to leave.

'No. You've already taken what you came for, this is mine and I want you to leave now.'

Pearl remains indignant and stands her ground, she is as stubborn as Peridot, eyebrows furrowed in her irritation.

'We're not leaving without that necklace, it belongs to Amethyst!'

'What are you going to do? Fight me for it?'

'You're as immature as Amethyst, you know that? Just give me the necklace, for goodness sake!'

Pearl makes the mistake of trying to make a grab for the gemstone peeking out from Peridot's fist, yelping when her hand is slapped away by striking fingers. Peridot backs up to jump on her bed and sticks her tongue out at Pearl childishly. Peridot is sure Pearl would have jumped up right after her if Garnet didn't intervene that very second.

'Pearl, let it go,' she says coolly, 'if it's so important to Amethyst then she can come collect it another time. We've bothered Peridot enough, we should go.'

Garnet glances up to Peridot knowingly, one hand on Pearl's thin shoulder to restrain her. Peridot gives a small nod of thanks, quickly diverting her eyes and hunching up her shoulders when she crosses her arms, suddenly feeling quite exposed in her tiny crop top and alien shorts.

She watches Garnet lead Pearl out of the apartment with Amethyst's belongings, and when the door closes Peridot can hear Pearl start an argument involving various insults directed at Peridot, until quickly their voices fade to nothing down the halls.

Peridot stands on top of her bed for a few more minutes and let's herself take in her newly cleared home. It feels even emptier than before; Amethyst's guitar now missing from its home next to the piano. The chest Peridot had bought at a vintage store to keep Amethyst's spare clothes in was empty, and the vanity where her lavender hair dye and neon cosmetics once lay were gone. They'd even taken her age old boom box where she and Amethyst had played old cassettes til dawn.

Peridot trembles slightly, tears welling up again. The necklace is rough against her skin as she holds it tightly, threatening to leave red marks. Her toes scarcely touch the cold wood of her floor when the tinkling of her phone plays, alerting her that she has a text message.

Peridot searches for her phone briefly, stuck between the mattress and her pillows, and slides it open to read the message.

Unknown Number:

HELLO PERI_800 :)

YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED YOUR PARTNER

YOUR PARTNER IS L_008

MEET L_008 BY 20ND ST DOWNTOWN, 19:00

YOUR CHALLENGE WILL BEGIN 10 MINUTES AFTER MEETING

HAPPY PLAYING :)

Peridot blinks a few times and re-reads the message twice. She's completely forgotten about Neon Devils, wondering if she had just dreamt up joining the dark game site. Now she thinks more clearly about it, maybe this isn't such a good idea. There have been rumours on the dangerous lengths people have gone to complete the nightly adventure, reports on the news every now and again.

She knows Amethyst joined and went to meet her 'partner' weeks ago, and she'd returned home just fine, maybe with a scrape here and a bruise there, but fine nonetheless.

Peridot purses her lips. Plugging her phone in to charge, she starts to collect up her old sheets and is determined to carry on with her day as normal. She will go grocery shopping, buy lunch, come home, cry again, and she's sure to forget all about her silly association with a sketchy website.

The day passes like it usually does on a Saturday. Peridot decides to treat herself now she doesn't have her girlfriend to feed, and heads up to the Salt Water Marketplace to buy her groceries. It's a beautiful summer's day, and it's bright and warm when she walks through the glossy shopping centre. It's especially busy today, full of people of all walks of life to enjoy the day among the expensive retailers, food stands, water attractions and indoor palm trees.

At 2 PM she calls Yelena and Blair, the Diamond sisters. They are the daughters and heirs of Diamond Corporations International. They are also Peridot's elder cousins, and fortunately dote on her, unlike their powerful mothers whom Peridot has never seen eye to eye.

'Peridot! How darling to hear from you~!'

Peridot smiles when she hears the whiny, bossy tone of Yelena's voice through the phone. It's comforting to hear from somebody that is family and cares for her. She asks Yelena to meet her at Rosa` Marie's Parlour within the hour, and Yelena agrees without a second of hesitation. Peridot can hear her yelling for a chauffeur just before the line goes dead.

At 2:30 PM, Peridot walks into the fancy restaurant in her $10 sneakers and spots her cousins right away. They have been seated right in front of the bar only for special reservations (she and Amethyst once found this out the hard way) and Peridot observes the girls for a moment before making way towards them.

They are talking, but they do so with an elegance that would make even a king quiet down to eavesdrop.

Yelena is blonde, pert, and sharply dressed. Blair is her sister's opposite; hair dip-dyed baby blue, fitted in a silk sun dress; she is reserved and soft spoken.

They're both midway through sipping dry martini's when Yelena spots Peridot first and immediately starts to cause a scene only the wealthy can allow themselves to get away with in a place like this.

'Peridot, my darling!' she practically sings, and heads turn at the commotion. Some diners recognise Yelena's face, and Peridot has quite forgotten her cousin's ability to steer all spotlight directly on her person. Yelena does not seem fazed and throws her arms tight around Peridot, and Peridot returns the embrace, the scent of face powder and COCO perfume overwhelming.

'Blair and I have missed you so much! Come, come! Tell us all we've missed!'

For the next four hours Peridot is treated like she has a million dollars to her name. Blair and Yelena coo and coddle her when she tells them all about her break-up with Amethyst, encouraging cocktails down her throat. They seem to enjoy that Peridot is a lesbian, believing that gay culture was 'fashionable' as Yelena put it. She prods for all the gossip in Peridot's life before she can't hold back much longer to tell Peridot all about the dramatics in hers.

'-Mother is still pressuring me to make this deal with Quartz industries! Honestly, she loves to forget the ongoing feud between Mama and that Rose Quartz!'

Peridot rolls her eyes; Yelena so clingy and obedient to her mother, yet ranting off any chance she could to willing ears. Blair is not so lenient to the bad-mouthing of her least favourite parent and tries to counter the conversation.

'You know that Mother only wants peace after the trouble with Rose,' she argues with her glass just inches away from her soft lips, 'we all know she'd like her to drop dead after the supposed embezzlement, but we have a reputation to protect. Keep your enemies closer, aren't I correct?'

Yelena raises her eyebrows at her sister and pinches her thin cheek playfully with a smile. Blair bats her away, but their hands tangle together under the bar table, a habit they'd had since childhood.

Peridot enjoys the silence for a moment while the twins whisper together and takes a long sip of her third martini. She checks her phone for the time, and she hasn't realised how quickly it's flown. Its 4:45, only a couple hours to go, and a nagging little voice tells her she shouldn't show up to meet her new partner drunk.

Peridot sets down the glass and tells the twins she has somewhere she has to be. The girls seem disappointed, but agree to meet her later within the week. Yelena beats them all to the check, leaving a big tip and her number to the waiter she said Blair had been staring at.

Peridot watches as a squabble breaks out as they get into a taxi, scarcely waving Peridot goodbye. She shakes her head, picks up her grocery bags and sets off for home in the warmth of the evening. She thinks hard.

Its half five when Peridot gets back, having avoided taking the subway. An excuse to avoid reaching her place sooner and knowing Amethyst wouldn't be there. She's realised that the break-up has almost like a band aid, just rip it off and wait for the redness to fade.

Amethyst is loud, and she's reckless and all the time they were together she would pull Peridot from her sheltered life to one full of adventure and often illegal activities. But she never got involved with anybody else's dramas- scarcely creating her own. She had just been happy in her little world with Peridot, and Peridot had just been happy to live in that world forever.

And then Amethyst took a sledgehammer and destroyed it. Now Peridot was in a lonely apartment, putting away her groceries and wondering where it all went wrong.

Time ticks on and the sun fades away. Peridot tries to occupy herself with anything; her files from work, taking apart her laptop and putting it back together again, playing a few notes of her favourite songs on the keys of her beat up piano.

Peridot feels heavy and decides to take a shower before she heads out to doing something stupid. Her bathroom isn't really a bathroom; it's a huge screen of wall that was installed before the warehouse were sold into real estate, behind it is just a sink, metal tub and toilet.

The huge windows that adorn her apartment don't really help for privacy, but Peridot doesn't care. She stares at her reflection that's given detail in the dark of the night and studies herself. She's not supermodel pretty, but she doesn't consider herself unattractive. Bright green eyes glare at the slim of her upper body, and the thick of her hips. Her fingers trace the silly watercolour alien tattoo under her ribs, a present from Amethyst. Blonde hair that is always sticking up short is flat against her scalp, and she runs a hand of shampoo through it.

The water is turned off and Peridot dries her hair and dresses in a neon green crop top and black low-cut shorts. She grabs her phone, slips on her shoes and oversized white denim jacket. She pauses just a second before she switches out the lights to leave, heading back to her bed.

In the side table drawer is a hot-pink tazor her brother gave to her when she moved to Empire City. She stashes it in her deep pockets and finally makes tracks for downtown.


End file.
